Monday Morons--people will get the dumbest ideas in their heads

Well, after writing a really long post last Monday about certain people, I don't really want to get into any of that right now. And I didn't get especially ticked off at anyone this week. So I was just thinking about the dumb ideas people get into their heads.

And rather than talk about the usual suspects, I thought I'd pick on my little brother for a bit.

Let's be fair. He said some dumb stuff, but he was a teenager at the time. He still says dumb stuff once in a while, but it is different dumb stuff.

So it was like twenty years ago, and I was in college and he was probably a high school senior. And for some reason we were talking about how it isn't fair that jobs that are mostly for women pay less than than other jobs that are just as much work. And my brother comes in and says that men need more money than women.

Well, everyone who has given it any thought knows that for the most part women need more money than men. And it was the eighties, and so if you didn't already know that, and it was a slow news day, there would be a news story about women being charged more for haircuts and dry cleaning and stuff like that.

There are some exceptions. Car insurance is the main thing that comes to mind. Young men are usually charged more for car insurance than young women. But, more men drive fast and wreck their cars and such, the insurance companies noticed a pattern, and so young men have to pay more. It doesn't last forever, and if you don't have wrecks and/or get speeding tickets, the car insurance goes down a bit after you turn twenty-five. If your car insurance is still high after that, it's probably your own fault. (My husband never had a problem with this, since he didn't learn to drive til he was twenty-five anyway.) Or a man's car insurance might go down a bit after he gets married. But generally speaking, young men pay more for car insurance than young women.

But a lot of other stuff costs more if you're a woman. After you've had your two point five children and want permanent birth-control, the surgical procedures for women cost more than for men. And women have that extra annual exam to pay for. And women have to buy more clothes, and women are expected to wear makeup, and women have to buy stuff at the drug store that men don't use.

There's all this kind of stuff to deal with, and everybody knows that. So why was my brother saying that men needed more money?

So we thought maybe he was thinking that the man of the house needed more money so that his wife could be a stay at home mom or something like that. So we said that he should either think about people who were single or married people who both had to work to take care of their children or single parents that didn't have financial help from the other parent. Not counting stay at home parents or people married to stay at home parents, why would a man need to make more money than a woman?

To buy nice cars.

Women need nice cars too. We have to drive to work too, why should a man need a nicer car than a woman?

Guys need nice cars to get girls.

Okay. There it was, spoken out loud. Men needed more money to buy nice cars to get women.

I know that people have dumb ideas in their heads. But I just kind of thought that once a person said something dumb out loud, it wouldn't make as much sense. And that they should hear what they've said and know that it doesn't make sense. And while they shouldn't have gotten the dumb idea in their heads to begin with, once they've said the dumb thing out loud they should be able to hear that it doesn't make as much sense as they thought it did. But, if you're still in doubt, the looks on other people's faces should tell you that you're not making sense.

Guys need nice cars to get girls.

I do not even know what is the most funny about that statement. There is so much about it that just doesn't work.

Okay, so if all men are to be paid more money so that they can all go out and buy nice cars to attract women, doesn't that sort of level the field so that all men have nice cars? Who is going to notice your nice car if all the guys have cars just as nice? If men buy nice cars to make up for what they lack in other areas, but then all men get nice cars, how are we supposed to figure out....

But let's not go there.

I really can't imagine that most women are really looking at the cars anyway. Now, some women just like cars. Some women are just nuts about cars, and if a nice guy who is nuts about cars meets a nice girl who is nuts about cars, and they find out they have other things in common, then that's great and may they drive off into the sunset and be happy forever. But the rest of us just don't care that much about cars.

Now, some women will be impressed that you have a certain kind of car. But I think men greatly overestimate the role their particular kind of car plays in getting a date. My brother-in-law had a BMW when he met my sister. He was sure it was going to impress her. He kept trying to come up with excuses for my sister to see his car. It's funny now, but at the time he was just making no damn sense. He wanted to go get his car and drive her to her car so she wouldn't have far to walk, but it wasn't raining or anything, and she parked closer than he did. Why didn't he just want to walk her to her car? Isn't that the thing to do when you met someone you want to spend more time with?

Me, I care so little about cars that half the time I probably don't even know which car you're talking about. I might notice something about the car that might suggest something about a man. I might notice that his car is cleaner than mine, cause I'm just not known for neatness. Or I might notice that the car seems well cared for. Or I might notice that the car is new.

So I might infer from the well taken care of car that the guy takes care of his things or is a good mechanic, both of which are good qualities in a guy, especially if I am seriously looking for a husband. The type of car is not relevent, though if the car is decorated with orange flames or is a truck with extremely big tires, I might infer something that is not something I would look for in a husband.

And if the guy has a new car I might infer that the guy either has a good job, or at least an okay job and has managed to save up enough money to obtain a new car. Again, the type of car is not relevent. But if the car is some almost useless thing with a label that is supposed to impress people, I might infer something else that is not desirable in a potential husband.

Now other women might show an interest in your particular kind of car. You might have the same kind of car, and she might think that is cute. Or you might have just bought a car that she is thinking of buying, so she might ask you if you're happy with your car. Or you might have a "classic" car that you fixed up that is just like the car her dad used to have. Or you might have the same kind of car that was in a favorite movie or favorite TV show.

Okay, so we are back to why would a guy need a nice car to attract women?

So you've got your nice new expensive car, and the women are all over you. And the women are all over your car, and they just love your car. They don't have have an interest in the car as described in the paragraphs above, but they know that the car is new and/or expensive and they are just so excited about it.

Let's see. I think there's a name for women who are into cars that way. What are those women called?

Gold-diggers, right? You've bought a new car to impress women who just want to spend your money. And it seems to be working. Congratulations.

Are you sure that's a good idea? Is that really a good way to meet women?

Hey, I've got an idea. If you want to buy a woman's affection, try this. As long as it still works, keep the car that you already have. Put a bumper sticker on it that says what kind of car you wanted to buy, but you decided to save the money for her engagement ring and the honeymoon trip instead.